D Orazio & Associates Inc. Reduces Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

D Orazio & Associates Inc. lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 3.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 40,466 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,534 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 1.4% of D Orazio & Associates Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. D Orazio & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $8,989,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Drystone LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $65,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth $82,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,569 shares of the company's stock, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total value of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider owned 15,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities cut Apple from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $217.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, June 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Apple from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group restated a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Apple from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $235.11.

Apple Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ:AAPL traded up $1.13 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $212.31. 40,713,768 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 53,135,758. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $204.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $215.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.05, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 167.24%. Apple's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the iPhone maker to reacquire up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. This is an increase from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Apple's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.20%.

About Apple

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.